THQ split up and sold in five parts through bankruptcy auction

Take 2, Sega, Ubisoft, Crytek among proposed new owners of popular game series.

The writing was on the wall when THQ filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last month, and now that writing has been etched in stone. After a 22-hour auction, the major publisher's component parts have been divided and sold off in five separate chunks to outside investors.

Company CEO Brian Farrell and President Jason Rubin confirmed the news in a letter to employees today. The bidding resulted in the following proposed sales of THQ's studios and franchise licenses/copyrights, which still have to be approved by the bankruptcy court:

Sega

To purchase Relic (developer of Warhammer 40K and Company of Heroes 2) for $26.6 million. (Interestingly, Bethesda Softworks owner Zenimax media came just short of winning this portion with a $26.3 million bid.)

Koch Media

To purchase Volition (developer of the Saints Row and Red Faction games) for about $22.3 million.

To purchase THQ Montreal (developer of the upcoming 1666, among others) for $2.5 million

To purchase the license to South Park: The Stick of Truth for about $3.26 million (though South Park Studios is putting up some legal argument over that part of the sale)

Darksiders developer Vigil Games received no bids and unfortunately will be shut down. Most current employees at THQ's other studios will likely be retained or rehired by the new owners, the letter says, but there's a chance some positions may not be considered necessary in the new ownership structure.

"We were hoping that the entire company would remain intact, but we expect to hear good news from each of the separate entities that will be operating as part of new organizations," the letter reads, in part. "For those THQ employees who are part of entities that are not included in the sale, we are confident that the talent you have displayed as part of THQ will be recognized as you take the next steps in your career."

No more Darksiders? Sad day. I thoroughly enjoyed that game, it was a refreshing, darker take on the Zelda-inspired exploratory adventure games (God of War is much more hack-and-slashy, in my opinion closer to the Devil May Cry games).

This absolutely sucks. THQ games always had a unique non-homogenized perspective - if you look at Saints Row 3 and Warhammer 40K, their over-the-top approach is hard to describe (play the games!), but it worked well any time I saw it.

I really don't want to see these games' personalities homogenized into the bland pap other studios do. It depresses me to think of the creativity, ingenuity, and base comedy that could be dying.

Sad that Vigil will be shutdown. I am interested though in who will own the IP rights for Darksiders. I would have thought that someone would at least bid something in order to get the franchise name and rights.

Welp, so much for the awesome game that South Park looked, now they got in the shitty end of the stick (no? anyone? aww well) with Ubisoft. Sega in charge of CoH 2. I don't know how to feel about that last part, I would have liked a Bethesda CoH2

Homefront was a pretty good multiplayer game and I look forward to what Crytek can do for it. The only real problem I had with it was late in matches when everyone had tons of points to spend on high bonuses like tanks, gunships, or just spamming white phosphorus airstrikes.

Welp, so much for the awesome game that South Park looked, now they got in the shitty end of the stick (no? anyone? aww well) with Ubisoft. Sega in charge of CoH 2. I don't know how to feel about that last part, I would have liked a Bethesda CoH2

South Park is a finished game that will be sold at retail in less than two months. Ubisoft might change the DRM scheme at this point, but that's about it.

Welp, so much for the awesome game that South Park looked, now they got in the shitty end of the stick (no? anyone? aww well) with Ubisoft. Sega in charge of CoH 2. I don't know how to feel about that last part, I would have liked a Bethesda CoH2

South Park won't run into any issues. It's being developed by Obsidian and basically paid for by Vivendi (or was it Zenimax? One of those). Their deal with THQ was just for publishing, which is why South Park Studios is challenging the sale of the game to Ubisoft...the game wasn't technically THQ's to sell.

I'll bid on Darksiders. I have litterally dozens of dollars I can afford to spend.

I can't help but wonder if we won't see a Kickstarter to acquire the IP. I'd donate in a heartbeat to any studio with even a halfway decent track record trying to raise funds for the franchise.

I really want Darksiders III.

If it wasn't a bankruptcy situation I would be inclined to agree with you, but with THQ's current financial situation, I'm not sure where the property will end up and who would be able to work on any potential sequels.

Sega: To purchase Relic (developer of Warhammer 40K and Company of Heroes 2) for $26.6 million. (Interestingly, Bethesda Softworks owner Zenimax media came just short of winning this portion with a $26.3 million bid.)

Sega: To purchase Relic (developer of Warhammer 40K and Company of Heroes 2) for $26.6 million. (Interestingly, Bethesda Softworks owner Zenimax media came just short of winning this portion with a $26.3 million bid.)

Kyle Orland / Kyle is the Senior Gaming Editor at Ars Technica, specializing in video game hardware and software. He has journalism and computer science degrees from University of Maryland. He is based in Pittsburgh, PA.